Day 1: Where we stayed. This is the backyard patio at my Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy’s beautiful Libertyville home, where Mom and I stayed most of the time while we were in Illinois (in the house, that is, not on the patio).

Day 2: Mom’s 60th Ela-Vernon High School reunion! Here she is with photos of her entire graduating class of 1953. That’s Mom in the red circle— she was valedictorian, and voted Most Likely to Succeed! She’s wearing her multicolor print top with the button-front skirt, mesh tights, and tan sandals. (And since the reunion happened on July 3, she’s holding a thematically-correct party favor!) Doesn’t she look great?

Day 3: 4th of July parade in a neighboring community. Standing to the left of the tree is Mom (wearing taupe cropped pants and multicolor print top with tan sandals); to the right of the tree is my Uncle Tom (Mom’s brother), and in the red shirt and jeans to Tom’s right is my Aunt Nancy.

Day 3: Fireworks! We decided to watch from the end of my aunt and uncle’s driveway, hence the tree on the left of the photo. (I also tried out the fireworks setting on my camera for the first time; hmm. The jury’s still out on how well that worked, but I like this picture.)

Day 4: Museum visit in Mahomet. Originally called Early American Museum (my grandfather and his collection started this museum in the late 1960s), it’s recently been renamed Museum of the Grand Prairie. It has had many additions and improvements over the years, of which we got a behind-the-scenes tour, and is now much larger than you would think from this photo. (My twin sister and I were born in neighboring Champaign, my father’s hometown.) Click here to learn more about the Museum of the Grand Prairie.

My grandfather, William Redhed, who founded the museum with his own Early American collection. (We saw many of his original pieces in the new state-of-the-art storage area.) This portrait was taken by his son (my father), and hangs just inside the main museum entrance. Yes, I’m very proud.

In the new Abraham Lincoln exhibit in the museum, we found this replica of a studio where Lincoln was frequently photographed. Mom poses here with a typical shawl of the Civil War era (over her black pants, aqua tee, and tan sandals).

Day 7: Mom’s childhood home, where she lived from the late 1930s to late 1940s. She’s standing next to an enormous oak tree that she remembers from that time. While we were driving around this area, we also saw a one-room schoolhouse (now a residence) that Mom attended as a child! (She’s wearing her taupe cropped pants, aqua tee, and tan sandals.)

Day 8: Mount Hood, Oregon. I took this picture from the airplane, near sunset, not long before landing back in Portland. So beautiful. And a very nice welcome home.